Time Marches On
by Hidden In The Darkness 15
Summary: When a warehouse explosion takes the lives of his team, McGee retreats into himself. Abby accepts a transfer, Ducky passes away, and years go by. Who is this new Mussad Agent and why is she so familiar?
1. Prologue

HOLA!!!! This is my first NCIS story. It says prologue, but this may just end up being a oneshot, but only because I'm having trouble deciding where this story is gonna go. I'm gonna need some great motivation to continue. I look at the story traffic, and stuff like that, but reviews are the best motivation! Okay, so here we go!

_**Title:**___Time Marches On_**  
****Pairing:**__Not sure yet, but it'll come to me eventually**  
****Warnings:**__ Character 'deaths'**  
****Disclaimer:**__ I'm not even _sure_ who owns NCIS, but whoever it is is an unparralled genius!_

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**_Prologue_**

It had started out as a normal day for the team at NCIS.

"McGee! Tony! _Where_ is Ziva?" Gibbs demanded as soon as he walked through the aisle between the four desks, coffee in his hand still steaming, his bag slung carelessly over one shoulder. He dumped it beside his desk, and sipped the coffee.

McGee practically jumped out of his chair, and Tony cast the Director's office a guilty look, giving Gibbs the answer before McGee even stuttered it. They had apparently been disscussing that exact same thing when their boss had strode in.

"B-boss! Good morning. Um, the Director called her into his office about half an hour ago." the younger man said nervously. For some reason, he didn't know why, he felt unusually uneasy today.

"Are you talking about me?" a slightly accented female voice called from the balcony above their heads. McGee and Dinozzo suddenly got very busy, but Gibbs just smiled, but the smile quickly turned into a frown when he saw his agent's expression.

Ziva had an odd look on her face, equal parts sadness and determination. She was thinking about what Director Vance had just told her, and what he said she would have to do to prevent it. She walked slowly down the stairs to her desk. When she finally took her seat, things had gone back to normal, McGee was arguing with Abby over the phone, something about limewire, and whether it actually downloads viruses. Tony was lounging in his chair, almost asleep. Ziva was playing a virtual game called spider solitaire. Gibbs had went up to the Directors office, coming back an hour later, scowling. Tony was called there, too, a few minutes later. McGee was the only one who wasn't summoned. When Tony came back, Gibbs looked straight at Ziva.

"Get your gear, we're heading out." he ordered shortly. He tossed Tony the keys to one of the vans, "Just follow behind me."

Tony sighed and nodded, almost sadly. McGee chose to ride with him, deciding that Tony's driving was less of a threat on his life than Gibbs'. Tony thought about stopping the younger man and coming up with the story that Abby needed him, but something stopped him.

Ziva frowned and realized it was time to set the plan in motion. She climbed into the small gray car with Gibbs, and the two vehicles pulled out into the dusk.

A few minutes later McGee noticed that through the tinted windows of the car they were following, Gibbs and Ziva seemed to be arguing, the headlights that Tony had turned on illuminating everything but their silhouettes, making everything clear to him. The fight seemed to get incredibly heated, with Ziva gesturing wildly, and Gibbs shouting back, and McGee thought that Gibbs seemed to be winning, but finally he saw his boss nod his head in acceptance.

"Hey, Tony, what do you think that was about?" he asked the senior field agent, who had also witnessed the scene, but just shook his head, leaving the Probie with more questions than answers.

After a while they pulled through the checking booth of a military base. It seemed unusually guarded, as the fatigue dressed men made all of the agents get out of the vehicles and submit to a body search and a search through the cars, even after they had flashed their badges and i.d.'s. Finally the officers let them proceed. They kept going until they came upon what looked like an abandoned bunker, the parking lot overrun with large cracks where weeds pushed themselves stubbornly through. When McGee went to get out of the van, Tony stopped him. For once the goofy grin was gone, replaced by a deadly serious frown.

"Probie... McGee, actually I need you to stay here. Gibbs wants you to watch the cars, there is an... um... thief, yeah, and no one can catch him, so he might try to take off in one of the cars." If McGee wasn't scared by now, he was terrified when Tony used his name.

"Tony, what's going on?" he demanded crossly. That was one of the worst excuses he had ever heard and, coming from Tony, a person with a silver tongue, was a bit of a disappointment.

"I really can't explain. Just... stay in here no matter what." Tony commanded, and though McGee didn't like it, he had to listen to his better, so he conceded.

Tony climbed out of the van and met up with Ziva and Gibbs, all of them looked back at McGee who was sulking in the van, glaring pointedly away from them. He was too mad to notice the dire atmosphere, or the tear that slid down Ziva's cheek. The agents talked for a minute, then entered the bunker cautiously, guns drawn.

Minutes later Timothy's cell phone rang with Tony's ring tone, the song Too Sexy, which Tony had downloaded and set himself, and McGee wondered what was so important that the senior field officer couldn't be bothered to come out and say in person, but answered anyway.

Before he could say anything, Tony burst out, "McGee? Listen, I don't have much time, so I'll make this count. I just wanted you to know that you really are the best friend I ever had, no matter how much I teased you." and with that cryptic message the line went dead, leaving the shocked Probie staring at his phone. What was that about? Not much time? '_HAD?! Why did Tony say "had"?'_

Suddenly a loud boom that shook the ground so violently that even the young agent was pitched forward in the van, brought his attention back to the bunker, and he was horrified to see it engulfed in silvery-orange flames, a dramatic sight against the now black, star-filled sky. Without thinking, McGee threw himself out the metal door, already realizing it was too late. He saw the roof cave in moments later, everything within the bunker that had possibly survived the explosion was now obliterated.

_'No! NO NO NO NO NO!!!! This isn't happening! It can't be! It's not supposed to end like this!'_ he thought frantically, sinking to his knees, but he didn't feel the pain that shot up his legs when the bone met the concrete, nor did he hear the clamoring sirens. He was drowning in shock and dispair, and didn't even resist the MT that dragged him to his feet and away from the now dying inferno.

It was impossible. They couldn't be dead. Not dependable, unbreakable Gibbs. Not laughing, crazy Tony. Not unbeatable, unreadable Ziva. It wasn't right. _It wasn't fair!_

Timothy didn't even realize he was raging at the helpless MT, nor did he feel himself go under when the sedatives the medics had given him took effect.

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Chances are I won't stop there, but only if I get some good feedback. I have a question, though, when I look at the traffic, it says there's this many visitors, and this many hits. Anyone know the difference? I certainly don't... anywho, See ya!


	2. Chapter 1

Okay, I know I promised this earlier, but I just couldn't get motivated enough. I hope y'all realized I was kidding about the one shot thing, else my summary would make no sense, would it? No? Okay then, ladies and germs, chapter 1! ^^

_**Disclaimer:**_ (looks in pockets) Nope, no money. The person who owns NCIS would make lots of money, right? Which means I am not that person. (sigh)

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_**Chapter 1**_

"Even with face reconstruction, he may recognize you, Agent David."

"McGee? I doubt it, Director. And it is Agent Haswari now, Arya Haswari."

"Arya Haswari? Not very imaginative are you? And, yes, I do mean Special Agent McGee. He's not how you remember him." Vance turned away from the sights the window of his office provided him, and towards the young woman on the other side of his desk.

"How bad could he be, Director, after all, this _is_ Timmy we're talking about." The woman responded, not acting too worried.

"No, Agent _Haswari_, we may as well be talking about two different people here. After the... incident at Quantico, Agent McGee began to shut himself away from people, and the only two people he allowed in, well... Doctor Mallard succumbed to a grief stricken heart attack, as you know, and Abbey Scuito accepted a job with the Navy. They left him alone, and it changed him." Vance told her, but she still looked skeptical. He got an idea. "Maybe it's better that I show you. He'll remind you of someone." Pressing a button on the intercom on his desk, he waited.

"Yes, Director Vance?" The voice was female, garbled by the device.

"Miss Blake, please call Agent McGee and send him to my office." He instructed.

"Gladly, Director!" The voice was excited, and the woman once known as Ziva David raised an eyebrow in a silent question.

"Agent McGee has gathered a bit of a... fan base since your departure. I think Miss Blake is the president, but I'm a bit afraid to ask." Vance explained, looking sheepish. Arya just laughed.

Moments later there was a knock at the oaken door, and the person on the oter side did not wait for the Director's responce to enter.

Arya did not know the man that slipped into the Director's office, but there was no way that it was Timothy McGee. Where McGee was a bit on the heavy side, with a terrible but endearing sense of fashion, this man was trim and fit, as displayed by his obviously tailored suit, which clung in all the right places, a dark suit over a white undershirt and a light green tie. His hair, which was buzzed close to his skull when she last saw him, now brushed the tops of his ears and collar. Hazel eyes, once warm and filled with trust, now were cold and hard, studying Arya like lasers.

"Agent McGee, meet Agent Arya Haswari, Ziva David's younger half-sister, and your new partner." Vance introduced her to a man she thought she could know everything about, but, Ziva realized wryly, she probably he no clue about him. This was not the Tim she remembered fondly.

"Agent Haswari. I suppose you get a lot of your looks from Deputy Director David. You look a lot like your sister. So you are to be assigned as my new babysitter." The man said, still looking her over. Vance made a sound of protest, but didn't say anything out loud. He couldn't very well argue with the man's blunt way of putting the truth.

"I wasn't aware you would need a babysitter, Agent McGee. I am here as your partner." Ziva answered, not letting her sadness at the loss of his innocence into her voice. It was her fault. All her fault.

Instead of responding, McGee turned to the Director. "I am aware you know of my position on this, but, nonetheless, I will make sure she doesn't murder the first person to insult her, just as I am sure you want her to keep me from sacrificing myself to the job. Director, if you will excuse me." Once again, not allowing Leon to respond, he turned to the very confused mossad agent. "Agent Haswari, I expect you bright and early tomorrow."

Without another word, McGee strode out of the office, ignoring the simpering gaze of the secretary, and leaving a resigned Director and mournful friend in his wake.

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Yep, that's right people, I did worse than Gibbs-ify McGee, I super Gibbs- ified him! I'm stopping there because it's 11, and I have one paper to finish, and one paper to start. Hasta luego!


	3. Chapter 2

AH!!!! I'm soo sorry! I meant to update sooner. I have no excuse and no one to blame but myself. Time just passed quicker than I thought. So, without futher ado, chapter 2!

Disclaimer: I have written so many of these things, I mught actually accidently put one in the book I'm writing... Where will I be then, without claim to my own story! That would be a tragedy!

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_**Chapter 2**_

Arya Hasswari, formerly known as Ziva David, exited the building that housed the NCIS with a much darker attitude than the one she had when she walked in. Not only was she once again considered an outsider to the whole staff of NCIS, which she had already gone through and rectified before, but the man she had seen as a little brother was no longer recognizable in the man he was now!

Before coming, Arya had thought that, if she only had McGee by her side, being his usual sweet self, she could deal with being untrusted by the other agents. Now she wasn't so sure.

She was so deep in her thoughts as she pulled out of the compound in her rental car, Arya jumped when her phone began spouting the song _Too Sexy_. She didn't even need to look at the caller ID to know who it was.

"Logan," She growled, "How many times do I have to tell you to keep your hands off my phone? Stop changing my ring tone!"

The person on the other line, Logan, laughed nervously, "Woah, calm down, Arya! I would have thought that reuniting with Probie the Boy Wonder would have mellowed you out a bit!"

"There is no way I could be calmer after having met what our McGee turned into..." Arya impatiently dashed away the lone tear that had made its way down her cheek. There was no time for crying.

"Puh-lease, Arya! How different could Probie wan Kenobi be?" Logan sounded more sure this time, though he would never admit how the name he used to call his old friend sent a pang of regret through his heart.

"I cannot tell you how wrong you are, Logan. It's almost as if the Timothy McGee we knew then, and the one that exists now are two seperate people! Of you don't believe me, look him up on your precious computer."

Once the three people that made up most of Gibbs team had to disappear, so did their personalities. That meant that Gibbs and Ziva would have to mellow out. Unfortunately, that also meant that Tony's obsession with movies had to go, too.

After months of not being able to watch movies, mention movies, or quote movies, the poor man was going crazy. Ziva mentioned computers, and that was it. The man became addicted to the flexible code of technology. In the years they had been in hiding, Tony, now known as Logan Cale, became a master of hacking.

Arya heard the tell-tale clacking sound of Logan's computer, as he was probably hacking into the NCIS mainframe.

Moments later she heard a gasp.

"Oh, _no!_ Arya, what have they done to him? What have _we _done to him?" Logan asked sorrowfully, as he scanned the contents of the folder. It began with the team, but that was only a small portion of the large file. McGee had been busy after they had left him alone.

Arya laughed bitterly. "You know, rumor has it that the famous author Thom E. Gemcity has died. And, in a way, he has. The part of McGee we knew has died, Logan. Maybe he died with the parts of _us_ that made us who we were before, or maybe he died a slow and painful death that just began with us, prolonged by Ducky's death, and then passed away with Abbie's transfer. We'll never know..." She stopped when she hear a shs-ing sound on the line, and a totally different voice came on.

"Arya, we're coming there." There was no question who this was. Jack, even though he was ordered to mellow out, still held stubbornly to that edge on his personality.

"Jack, you can't. Apart, he might not catch on, but if you two come here, and he sees us together, things are going to click in that mind of his, and everything we worked for, everything we did, will have been for nothing." Arya argued, though she knew it was useless. There was no answer. Finally, after almost a half a minute of silence, she sighed in defeat. "Fine, I'll prepare the guest rooms in my home for you."

"Good." Was the only answer she got, before the line went dead.

"This is going to be interesting." Arya muttered to herself as her car rumbled on, looking to the road ahead, in more ways then one.

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Timothy McGee hated the women at his work. They were nosy and annoying, with a tendancy towards shrill noises when he so much as glanced their way.

He hated how they thought they knew him. Often he heard one of them commenting on what a 'tortured soul' he was, and how they would fix it if he would just let them.

Those times made him scoff. Those soft women didn't even know half of his pain.

At times like those, he loathed them, but there was no time that he resisted the urge to pull his gun more than mornings. At first, he was able to peacefully exercise in the gym at the NCIS facility, being deemed as 'cute, but not hot' to the women there. But, as soon as he started losing weight and changing his style, things started to change. The women were starting to notice him more, and at first it didn't bother him, until they began to almost stalk him. They would hang out by his things, batting their eyes at him and thrusting their chests in the way as he was reaching for his towel and water bottle. Finally, McGee gave up trying to ignore them, and started to avoid them, opting instead for a jog around the building every morning. It didn't take his 'devoted' group of followers long to realize what was happening, and they now congregated at the place where he left his things to wait for him, their stalkerish tendencies 'hidden' by the excuse of helping him, while they handed him his towel, water bottle, guns, and badge, which he had left at the front desk.

It was in this situation that Arya found him the next morning. He was accepting his water bottle from one of the stalk- er- ladies, as another began drying the sweat from his neck lovingly before he snatched the towel from her.

Arya couldn't help but giggle. To anyone who didn't know McGee, he looked almost blank, but Arya could somehow see the irritation hidden in the depths of his hazel eyes. It amused her that the situation the old Tony would have given his right arm to be in ticked McGee off. She bypassed the poor man's many admirers to catch up with the man as he walked through the doors to the building.

He walked straight to the desk, Arya at his heels, though he had yet to acknowledge her.

The woman standing at the desk was a naval officer, and oviously new. That didn't stop McGee from tearing into her.

"Why is it that every mornig, I leave my things to the care of those standing here at this desk, and every morning, someone has pocured my things, and hands them to me as I walk in the door?" He demanded, as the poor girl looked up from the ledger she was reading in shock. She didn't even have time to respond before the angry agent continued. "I trust all of you who are in this desk to watch my possesions until _I_ come to get them, not to hand them away to any person who asks for them. What if the person you gave my guns to happened to be a terrorist?

"But, sir, the woman who asked for them had an agent's badge!" The girl exclaimed defensively. McGee just snorted.

"So did Agent Lee, who, it turned out, was a traitor." McGee said. The naval officer just looked confused.

"Who?" She asked, timidly. McGee just sighed in exasperation.

"If you want to know, look it up. But, for now, if I check my things into the front desk, _I_ want to be the only one able to retrieve them. Is that clear?" He commanded. The girl nodded vigourously. "Good. Pass it on."

And with that, McGee slung his bag back over his shoulder, and walked towards the elevator, still not talking to Arya as she tagged along, still sad over the display she just witnessed.

If Jack thought he and Logan coming here was going to fix something, it looked like their job just got harder.

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Ah hah! A whole chapter! Not my best work, but certainly not my worst. Can anyone guess where I got Tony's and Gibbs' alias'? Mega nerd points if you can! Of, and just to make it a bit easier, Gibbs' alias' whole name is Jack McNiel. Well, I hope you enjoyed. I have two other stories to work on! A bientot!


	4. Chapter 3

Hey people. Won't waste your time babbling for now. Here's the chapter.

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_**Chapter 3**_

_**Recap:**_

_And with that, McGee slung his bag back over his shoulder, and walked towards the elevator, still not talking to Arya as she tagged along, still sad over the display she just witnessed._

_If Jack thought he and Logan coming here was going to fix something, it looked like their job just got harder._

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"Get a move on, Logan, we don't have all day. The plane leaves in an hour, which means I'm out of here in three minutes, whether you're in the car or not!" Jack called. He and Logan had booked two tickets almost the second they had hung up from that call with Arya, using the money they had made from their perspective jobs.

Logan Cale, formerly known as Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, had gotten an anonymous job as an internet journalist, under the name Eyes Only he used his many contacts to expose corrupt politicians, being paid large amounts of money through an off shore account.

Gibbs, now known as Jack McNeil, went for a quieter job as an orthopedic surgeon in a local hospital, after revealing, much to both Arya's and Logan's shock, having completed his medical degree while he was in the Marine Forces. His confusion during Ducky's long, rambling explanations was for the older man himself. The doctor liked talking, so Gibbs had let him talk.

Both men lived a life they wouldn't have thought possible three years ago, back when Tony didn't know the shift bar from the space bar, and Gibbs stared blankly at Ducky during a particularly complicated explanation. They made money that NCIS agents only dreamed about.

All because, as a team, they had pissed off one too many people. Someone, somewhere, was gunning for their lives. That fateful day the three had been called into the office of Director Vance had changed their lives irrevocably. Before that, they were a team, closer knit than most, almost a family, which extended to both the lab and the morgue. Now that family had fallen apart, with Ducky and Abby in just as deep hiding somewhere else in the world, and McGee so changed that they hardly recognized him, and it was their plan to bring it back together. Slowly, at first, so the people who keeping them all in their respective corners of the world didn't notice until it was too late and they were all reunited and inseparable.

While waiting for the other man, Jack took a second to look around the home Logan owned. For someone who was so into technology, it was shockingly traditional looking. It was a one bedroom, one and a half bathroom deal. There were fireplaces in both the living room and bedroom, manual, not gas. The furniture all matched, and was a nice beige color. The mantle of the living room fireplace was covered in recent pictures of all three of them.

Logan finally stumbled his way down the stairs of his house, smiling sheepishly at his former boss, and carrying a large suitcase, his computer bag slung around his shoulder.

"Sorry, Jack, I was trying to decide which laptop to bring…" The younger man explained. Jack just sighed and rolled his eyes, before heading out to the car, Logan at his heels.

In all actuality, the men weren't even supposed to know the location of each other, or Arya, having been sent to different cities in different parts of the country. But as they all sat in the perspective witness protection offices, they each peeked at their files, learned the location and phone numbers of the others, and started gravitating slowly towards each other, moving homes frequently until they were together again.

They had slipped from between the fingers of their respective minders, out of the system and out of sight. The identities they used were created by Logan, who paid better attention to the small details than the mass produced identities they were handed by the Witness Protection Program.

Arya was only able to get back into NCIS because, like most federal agencies, NCIS and WPP didn't get along, so Director Vance, knowing the full story, let her back in to spite the other agency, even though the WPP didn't even know.

Unfortunately, because none of them had been back to the offices since they were sent to three years ago, they had no idea where Ducky and Abby really were, but Logan was working on that.

As the computer expert drove to the airport, which was only a few minutes from his home, Jack called Arya.

"Hello, Jack. Did you know Logan reset your ringtone too?" Was the first thing the former mossad agent asked.

"No, I didn't. Do I want to know what it is?" The man asked, glancing at the other occupant of the vehicle.

"Uh, I don't think you'd recognize it. Just tell that computer junkie I am not amused." Arya said, her voice, though distorted by the phone, was easily read as both embarrassed and irritated.

"I'll do that. Anyway, we're on our way to the airport. We'll be there in…" Jack glanced at his watch, "About six and a half hours, if there's no complications."

"Great, because we have our work cut out for us." Arya stated, looking over at her former teammate and current partner. He was ignoring the women standing by the water cooler staring at him, focusing solely on the paperwork on his desk. He paused to push a lock of hair that had fallen in his eyes behind his ear, causing a mass dreamy sigh.

"When haven't we had our work cut out for us, Arya? I'll call you when we touch down." Jack said, and didn't wait for an affirmative answer before hanging up.

He and Logan grabbed their belongings and entered the airport.

Arya snapped her phone shut just as McGee, who had been speaking curtly on his desk phone, hung up.

"Grab your gear, there's been a body discovered just outside Quantico." He ordered, slinging his own bag on his shoulder and holstering his gun, already walking towards the elevator.

Arya hurried after him, a slight déjà vu from her days before the team was targeted ringing true.

They stepped into the elevator together, and it went down almost two floors before McGee reached forward and snapped it off, and turned to his partner.

Suddenly, the cold hazel eyes she had become sadly familiar with melted, and Arya was finally looking into the eyes of a friend she had missed dearly.

"Ziva, you've got to call Gibbs and tell him and Tony to stay where he is. The gang who's targeting us is back in Washington, and we're in more danger than ever before." Tim said urgently.

Well, she certainly wasn't expecting that!

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And truthfully, neither was I. The inspiration hit me as I was typing. Sorry it's so short, but I thought that was an excellent place to stop. Any~who, I gotta go work on my other stories, you know, got readers to appease. Au revoir.


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